Will the next Danny Boyle be Digital?

It’s clearly a great time to be involved in the Creative Industries in Bury, with first Elbow, and now Danny Boyle winning all the prizes. For all the talk of what makes a creative economy – the truth of that matter – it requires talented individuals, and a supportive environment, remains the same over the years. No man is an island, wrote John Donne, and certainly no creative spirit.
I think if we want to know why Factory Records happened for instance, you have to look further than the existence of Joy Division, and look at that supportive environment. Some of that is accidental; the art schools were never built to develop the British music industry, but from the Beatles to Roxy Music to punk, they certainly helped.
I’m guessing that its our digital environment as much as our physical or educational one, that will help nurture any future Danny Boyles – after all, the industry he works in is increasingly digital. Sure, the BBC move to Manchester, and New Media City might be the “flagship”, and the BBC remains a key commissioner of new talent – but I’m guessing that it is outside of the mainstream that the next anything, whether literary, musical, or visual, will really shine – and that’s why I’m so supportive of things like the Social Media Cafe.
So its pleasing to hear that “The Best of Manchester” is being repeated at Urbis this year. Nominations are now open, and though there’s not a digital category I’d like to think that the best in art, music and fashion will be increasingly different to categorise, like one of last year’s winners, the somewhat uncategorisable artist Naomi Kashiwagi. Awards aren’t always the best way to nurture talent (Danny Boyle didn’t become a good director because he won the Oscar for “Slumdog Millionaire” – he won the oscar because he was already a good director), but where they celebrate new talent such as this, or the best newcomer and freelancer awards at the Big Chip Awards, then they show Manchester in a good light.
As for me, I once was a runner-up in the Northern Short Story Contest, and it’s been downhill ever since!